Tim Wild and his four friends strapped a ton of water to their bikes, drove a little way south of Tucson, and rode all the way to the top of a local Sky Island, where staff at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory rolled out the astronomical red carpet and gave our intrepid stargazers an epic overnight primer on the night sky. Read on to find out what it’s like to ride into the stars…
Years ago, a couple of friends took me along to watch them kitesurfing. Before we left the house, there was a long discussion about weather conditions. Packing two kitesurfing kits into the car took a while longer. When we got there, it took at least two hours for them to check the wind speed, debate the conditions, and futz with a bewildering array of straps, ties, knots, buckles, and clips. After twenty minutes struggling to traverse the sea in a lackluster wind, they packed it all away and we went home.
I’ve never been bikepacking before, but as I try in vain to secure a bottle cage to the fork for the fifth time, the cage springs free and whips into the soft flesh of my forearm. It’s feeling pretty… kitesurfy. We started prepping at 7 pm; now it’s 11 pm, and we’re not done.
But we need to be, because we’re riding to space tomorrow.
Dark Sky Discovery
The term “dark sky” – referring to places free of light pollution – was coined in Tucson. The surrounding desert has over 300 clear nights a year, and there’s very little moisture in the air to blur the view. That’s why the Santa Catalina, Santa Rita, and Rincon mountain ranges are known locally as Sky Islands, and dotted with some of the USA’s most important observatories. Mt. Lemmon has one, just a few miles drive from Tucson itself, and there’s Kitt Peak to the west, and also the one we’re going to: the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory on Mount Hopkins.
Loops and Time and Stuff
If you’re a local gravel rider, you’ve probably ridden the Sky Islands Odyssey loops, or part of them. The East and West loops both cover 124 miles and 176 miles respectively, and take most people several days, but the rewards are immense – access to some of the best dark sky camping spots in the country…